a 
{wallowed, but had not finithed, 
and which were tuken in this ftate 
ina net! At the time this lait cir- 
cumftance happened, he difcovered 
a ftrange kind of fatisfaétion, for 
he faid to me—« Aye! this was 
killing two birds with one ftone !” 
{n the room of all commént—of all 
moral—let me fay, tat at this time, 
Mr. Elwes was perhaps worth near- 
ly eight hundred thoufand pounds! 
and, at this period, he had not 
made his will, of courfe, was not 
faving from any fentiment of affec- 
tion for any perfon. 
As, in the day, he would now 
allow himfelf no fire, he went to 
bed as foon as day clofed, to fave 
candle; and had began to deny 
himfelf even the pleaiure of fleep- 
ing in beets. In fhort, he had now 
nearly brought to a climax the 
moral of his whole life—zhe per fed 
wanity of wealth, 
On removing from Stoke, he 
went to his farm-houfe at Thaydon. 
Hall; a fcene of more ruin and. de- 
folation, if poflible, than either his 
houfes in Suffolk or Berkfhire. It 
ftcod alone, on the borders of Ep- 
ping Foreft; aud an old man and 
woman, his tenants, were the only 
perfons with whom he could hold 
any converfe. Here he fell ill; 
and, as he would have no afiiitance, 
and had not even a fervant, he lay, 
unattended and almott forgotten, 
for nearly a fortnight—indulging, 
even in death, that avarice which 
malady could not fubdue. It was 
at this period he began to think of 
making his will. 
The property difpofed of to two 
natural children, may amount, per- 
haps, to five hundred thoufand pounds. 
The entailed eftates fall to Mr. 
Timms, fon of the Inte Richard 
Timms, Lieutenant Colonel of the 
Second Troop of Horfe Guards. 
) 
’ comfortable home. 
ANNUALYREGIST ER, 1790. 
_ The clofe of Mr, Elwes’s life 
was ftill referved for one fingularity 
more, and wiiich will not be held 
lefs fingular than all that has paffed 
before it, when his difpofition and 
his advanced age are confidered. 
He gave away his affeftions: he 
conceived the tender paffion—In 
plain terms, having been accuftom- 
ed for fome time to pafs his hours, 
Out of economy, with the twe maid 
fervants in the kitchen—one of them 
had the art te induce him to fall in 
love with her; and it is matter of 
doubt, had it not been difcovered, 
whether fhe would not have had the 
power over him to have made him 
marry her. 
But good fortune, and the atten- 
tion of his friends, faved him from 
this laft a&t—in which, perhaps, 
the pitiable infirmity of atures 
weakened and worn down by age 
and perpetual anxiety, 1s in fome 
meafure to be called to account. 
Mr. George Elwes having now 
fettied at his feat at Marcham, in 
Berkshire, he was naturally defirous, 
that in the affiduities of ‘his wife, 
his father might at length find a 
In London he 
was certainly moft uncomfortable : 
but ftill, with thefe ‘temptations 
before and behind him, a journeys 
with any expence annexed to it, 
was infurmountable. This, how 
ever, was luckily obviated by an 
offer from Mr. Partis, a gentleman 
in the law, to take him to his an- 
cient feat in Berkfhire, with his 
purfe perfectly whole—a circum- 
ftance fo pleafing, that the general 
intelligence which renders this gen- 
tleman fo entertaining, was not ade- 
qnate to it in the opinion of Mr. 
Elwes. But there was one circum 
fiance ftill very diftrefiing—the of 
gentleman had now nezrly worn’ 
his laft coat, and he would not buy 
; , _ anew 
